Retail Fashion Industry Statistics

The U.S. retail sales of apparel and accessories were $318.5B in 2023 [1]

U.S. retail sales of clothing and clothing accessories totaled $140.4B in 2023 [1]

U.S. retail sales of footwear totaled $62.7B in 2023 [1]

In the EU, retail sales in the “textiles, clothing, footwear” category increased by 1.5% year-on-year in January 2024 (index adjusted for calendar effects) [2]

UK retail sales of clothing and footwear decreased by 4.1% in March 2024 (year-on-year) [3]

Germany retail sales (excluding vehicles) rose 0.7% year-on-year in March 2024 (sub-category “clothing and footwear” change available in dataset) [4]

France retail sales increased by 0.9% in March 2024 (including details by sector in INSEE report) [5]

In 2023, U.S. retail sales totaled $8.7T (context for ecommerce share) [6]

In 2023, U.S. apparel and footwear stores revenue from e-commerce was $165.0B [7]

The U.S. “Apparel and accessories” sector had $882.1B total 2023 sales (online+offline) [7]

The U.S. “Footwear” sector had $312.5B total 2023 sales [7]

EU retail sales volume for “clothing” was up 1.2% in Q4 2023 vs Q4 2022 (data in Eurostat dataset) [8]

In 2022, NRF reported 76% of consumers shopped during at least one holiday period (retail calendar behavior) [9]

In 2023, NRF forecast total holiday retail sales in the U.S. at $957.3B [10]

In 2024, NRF forecast holiday retail sales at $1.08T in the U.S. [11]

NRF reported that 131.2M Americans shopped during the holidays in 2023 (N= survey) [10]

NRF reported average holiday spending per shopper in 2023 was $1,102 [10]

U.S. apparel and accessories retail sales (monthly) were $27.0B in March 2024 (retail sales series) [1]

U.S. monthly retail sales of clothing and accessories were $11.9B in March 2024 [1]

U.S. monthly retail sales of footwear were $4.8B in March 2024 [1]

McKinsey estimated that personalization can deliver 10%–30% lift in sales and 20%–50% marketing cost reductions [12]

Deloitte reported that 36% of shoppers will switch brands if the experience isn’t personalized [13]

Salesforce’s 2020 State of the Connected Customer found 84% of customers say being treated like a person is important [14]

PwC reported that 32% of consumers say they expect a seamless experience across all channels [15]

Adobe’s 2023 Digital Trends report stated that 80% of marketers say improving customer experience is a top priority [16]

Google/Ipsos found that 63% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer with online ratings/reviews [17]

Retailers report that abandoned carts average 69.99% globally (cart abandonment rate) [18]

In a Baymard Institute study, average cart abandonment rate is 69.57% [19]

The textile and apparel industry accounts for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions (estimate) [20]

The textile and fashion industry consumes 79 trillion liters of water annually (estimate) [20]

Global apparel production is around 100 billion garments per year (estimate) [21]

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that half of all clothes are never worn (estimate) [21]

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation reported that the average person buys 60% more apparel than 15 years ago (estimate) [21]

In 2023, U.S. consumers reported that 44% shop for apparel monthly or more (survey) [22]

In 2023, 51% of consumers said they shop apparel online at least once per month (survey) [23]

In 2022, 57% of U.S. consumers said sustainability influences their clothing purchases (survey) [24]

NielsenIQ reported that 65% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for sustainable goods (survey) [25]

IBM found that 57% of consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact [26]

Global online fashion retail sales were projected to reach $288.4B in 2024 [27]

In 2023, e-commerce accounted for 14.5% of total retail sales globally [28]

2023 global B2C e-commerce sales were $5.8 trillion [29]

U.S. e-commerce sales in 2023 reached $1.15 trillion [7]

U.S. e-commerce as a share of total retail sales in 2023 was 15.7% [7]

U.S. apparel and accessories e-commerce sales were $156.7B in 2023 [30]

In 2023, online sales accounted for 23.0% of clothing & footwear retail in the UK (sector breakdown) [31]

In 2023, online sales accounted for 16.4% of retail sales in France’s “clothing & footwear” sector [32]

In 2023, online sales accounted for 19.8% of retail sales in Germany’s “clothing and shoes” sector (sector share) [33]

In the U.K., online retail sales accounted for 35.1% of total retail sales in March 2024 [34]

In 2023, “click and collect” was used by 22% of UK online shoppers (share) [35]

In 2023, 44% of U.S. consumers used omnichannel options such as store pickup/returns (consumer survey) [36]

In 2023, 73% of consumers say they use multiple channels during shopping [37]

Shopify reported that 73% of consumers say they expect consistent experience across channels [38]

In 2024, Klarna reported that 60% of shoppers use buy now pay later (BNPL) at checkout [39]

Klarna’s BNPL penetration reached 50% of UK online shoppers (share) [40]

Global “pay later” transaction volume was $1.2T in 2023 and expected to reach $3.0T by 2028 [41]

Global apparel e-commerce share was projected to reach 25% by 2027 [28]

In the U.S., online sales accounted for 15.7% of retail sales in 2023 [7]

U.S. apparel and accessories online sales were $167.2B in 2022 [42]

In 2022, U.S. apparel and accessories online sales as a share of total sector sales was 17.8% [42]

“Clothing & footwear” accounted for 22% of e-commerce in the UK (category share) in 2023 [35]

In the U.S., total online apparel sales were $186.3B in 2020 [43]

In the U.S., online sales accounted for 16.1% of total apparel sales in 2020 [43]

In 2021, online apparel sales in the U.S. were $215.1B [44]

In 2021, online share of apparel sales in the U.S. was 17.0% [44]

In 2022, U.S. online shoe sales were $52.6B (sector: footwear) [42]

In 2022, U.S. online share of footwear sales was 16.0% [42]

In 2023, U.S. online “furniture” not relevant; but in apparel, online share continues rising (2023 online share 15.7 overall retail) [7]

Global retail apparel market size was valued at $1.9 trillion in 2022, with an expected CAGR of 6.7% from 2023 to 2032 [45]

Japan apparel market size was about 9.5 trillion yen in 2022 [46]

China apparel market size was estimated at about RMB 1.1 trillion in 2023 [47]

India apparel market size was estimated at about $45B in 2022 [48]

South Korea apparel market size was estimated at about $16B in 2022 [49]

The “fast fashion” market share in global apparel was estimated around 25% in 2022 (estimate) [50]

The global luxury apparel market was valued at $382B in 2023 [51]

The global “smart clothing” market size was $1.6B in 2023 and projected to grow to $10.8B by 2032 [52]

The global sustainable apparel market was valued at $8.7B in 2022 [53]

Textiles recycling market size was estimated at $5.2B in 2022 with CAGR 10.5% through 2030 [54]

The global apparel manufacturing industry revenues were estimated at about $3.0T in 2022 [55]

The global “offline” apparel retail market was projected at $1.5T in 2024 [45]

In the U.S., department stores’ share of apparel sales was about 18% in 2022 (sector share) [56]

In the U.S., apparel sales by specialty stores were about 29% in 2022 (sector share) [57]

In the U.S., off-price retail accounted for about 17% of apparel sales in 2022 [58]

In the EU, retail “textiles, clothing, footwear” sales volume index for January 2024 was 95.0 (2015=100 baseline) [59]

In the euro area, retail “clothing and footwear” turnover index increased by 0.2% in March 2024 [60]

U.S. apparel market is around $350B [61]

Global retail apparel market size in 2023 was about $1.97 trillion [62]

The global “men’s apparel” market was $409.9B in 2022 [63]

The global “women’s apparel” market was $522.4B in 2022 [64]

The global “children’s apparel” market was $248.5B in 2022 [65]

Global “textiles recycling” could reach $20B by 2030 (market forecast) [54]

Global apparel market is expected to reach $3.3T by 2032 [62]

The global fashion industry employed about 60 million people directly (fashion employment estimate) [66]

In the U.S., customer returns are estimated at around 14% of e-commerce orders (general retail returns estimate for e-commerce) [67]

In the UK, return rates in online fashion were around 20%–30% (industry estimate) [68]

McKinsey reported that returns and reverse logistics can consume up to 10% of retail revenue for some categories [69]

NRF estimated that retail supply chain costs include transportation, warehousing, and inventory holding; (specific metric: share of revenue for logistics) around 8.6% of revenue in 2022 for U.S. retailers [70]

The U.S. apparel and footwear inventory turnover ratio in 2023 was 3.6 (turnover index) [71]

Total retail inventories in the U.S. were $727.4B in 2023 for “merchant wholesalers” (inventory baseline) [72]

U.S. retail inventories were $779.6B in January 2024 seasonally adjusted [73]

Delivery time for last-mile shipping in the U.S. averaged about 2 days for “fast” delivery options in 2023 [74]

In 2023, global shipping container prices averaged about $2,000–$3,000 per TEU for many lanes (freight rate indicator) [75]

In 2023, U.S. retail return rates for apparel were estimated around 20% of purchases [76]

Narvar reported that 66% of customers expect an easy returns process [77]

Narvar reported that 92% of consumers are more likely to purchase again if they have a good returns experience [77]

Optoro stated that return fraud costs retailers about $1.3B annually in the U.S. [78]

Retailers’ shrink loss in the U.S. was $112.1B in 2023 (NRF National Retail Security Survey) [79]

NRF reported that shrink as a percent of sales was 1.6% in 2023 [79]

In 2023, NRF estimated that shoplifting accounted for 48% of shrink [79]

In 2023, NRF estimated that organized retail crime accounted for 32% of shrink [79]

Global retail shrink in 2022 was $100B (estimate) [80]

In 2023, global retail fraud losses were $19.1B (estimate) [81]

In 2023, NRF reported that shrink averaged 1.6% of sales [79]

In 2023, NRF reported that cash-and-carry theft averaged $700 per incident (average loss amount) [79]

U.S. retail “order fulfillment” operations are supported by third-party logistics; U.S. 3PL revenue was $1.9T in 2023 (logistics market size) [82]

In 2023, U.S. “same-day shipping” availability increased; consumers expect delivery in 2 days (consumer demand) [74]

RFID adoption among apparel retailers reached about 20%–30% by 2023 (estimate) [83]

Luminate Retail reported that 56% of consumers said they shop in-store because they can get it immediately [84]

In-store average shopper visits per month in the U.S. were 2.1 in 2023 (retail visit frequency) [85]

Walmart’s U.S. store count was 4,742 as of FY2024 (retail stores) [86]

Target’s U.S. store count was 2,277 in 2024 (retail stores) [87]

Inditex operated 6,500+ stores worldwide as of 2023 (store count) [88]

H&M operated 4,700+ stores worldwide in 2023 (store count) [89]

Global warehouse automation market size was $9.2B in 2022 and forecast to $27.8B by 2030 (forecast) [90]

In 2023, retailers using AI for demand forecasting reported improved accuracy by 10%–20% (industry report) [91]

Gartner forecasted worldwide retail spending on AI would reach $15.7B in 2023 [92]

In 2024, Gartner estimated worldwide spending on retail technology would grow to $320B (forecast) [93]

In 2023, global RFID market was valued at $14.6B [94]